Financial hiring 'holding firm'

New research has revealed that hiring activity in the City's financial services market is stable, with job vacancies up 2.3 per cent since January.

The number of people looking for new positions fell by around 7.3 per cent compared with January when there was a surge of applications pre-bonus payouts.

An increase in middle and back office new job vacancies in February indicated that healthy levels of hiring are still taking place in London's financial services market, but at a slightly slower pace than the same time last year.

Robert Thesiger, chief executive of Morgan McKinley's parent company, Imprint, comments: "No one would disagree that the climate within London's financial services industry is tougher than it has been for several years.

"However, in the main, the hiring market is holding firm with replacement as well as some expansion recruitment continuing to take place.

He concluded that many banks may remain "cautious" until the end of Q1, after which they will have a clearer idea of how the financial services industry will "shape up" for the rest of the year.